


Duetto

by aeronautilus



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Pair Skate, Yuuri works out his problems on the ice, onsen talks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-16 23:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9294104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeronautilus/pseuds/aeronautilus
Summary: Yuuri needs an exhibition program.  As always, Victor is a source of inspiration.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't published fic in years, but something about these two ice skating dorks won't leave me alone. Feedback is always appreciated~

Yuuri was deliciously tired in a way that only strenuous training induces.  The water of the onsen was perfectly too-hot. The steam evaporating from his fevered skin clouded his already blurred vision and he was content to close his eyes and rest his upper body on the rocks, to let his head fall heavy into the crook of his elbow.  He took a deep breath, and imagined the water vapor filling his sinuses and lungs, relished the sharp mineral scent as he exhales.  For once, his mind was blissfully blank.

“Yuuuuri…” Victor’s low voice drifted over him.  Yuuri breathed it in with the steam, sensed the water ripples caused by Victor shifting his position.  He cracked an eye open.

Victor reclined next to him, back against the edge, long arms boneless against the smooth rock.  He was immersed up to his clavicles.  His head was propped on the stone, face uplifted.  One hand flicked idly in the water.  This close, Yuuri could see that his eyes were closed.  Yuuri made a noncommittal hum and let his eyelids droop.

“Yuuuuuuuri…” Victor repeated.  “Have you thought about your exhibition program?” Yuuri’s eyes flashed open and he raised a little from the pillow of his forearms, but Victor hadn’t moved.  His eyes remained closed.  Yuuri consciously relaxed.

“Not really,” he exhaled, voice muffled against the crook of his elbow.  It’s true.  He’s been focused on refining his competitive programs.  Thoughts threatened to intrude on his calm--all the things he still needed to improve, all the ways he felt inferior, the dread that his mental weakness would undo all of their hard work--

“You’ll be on the podium.”  There is no question in his tone, it is a simple statement of fact.  To Victor, there is no other possible outcome.  “You’ll need an exhibition program.” 

Yuuri tried to feel that confidence.  He imagined his anxieties evaporating like the steam from his skin.  He’ll be on the podium.  He needs a program.  An exhibition program...there are a few programs from previous seasons that he could re-work.  He’s only qualified for the Grand Prix Final once, and the audience this year is unlikely to have seen them before.  He opened his mouth to say as much to Victor, but quickly backtracked.  His forehead furrowed as he imagined Victor’s disappointment in his lack of creativity.  When Victor was competing, every season he had something new to perform during the exhibitions.  He would never miss an opportunity to surprise the audience.

Yuuri thought about what it was like to create his free skate with Victor.  Even though it was exhausting at times, he had to admit that there was something special about using original music and having a role in developing the choreography.  He felt a nervous excitement at the prospect of creating something new, something the audience wouldn’t expect.

A slight movement of the water interrupted his thoughts.  He realized the silence had stretched for a while and glanced over at his coach.  Victor had rolled his head to the side, and was watching Yuuri with half-lidded eyes.  When Yuuri met his stare, he slid his elbow a few inches across the stone to bump with Yuuri’s.

“Don’t worry.  I know you’ll come up with something great!” It would have sounded cheesy coming from anyone else, but Yuuri knew he actually meant it.  When Victor tried to wink reassuringly, it ended up turning into a big yawn.  The odd facial contortions made Yuuri snort a laugh and immediately flush with embarrassment, but Victor just smiled lazily.

“So cruel to laugh at your coach when he is trying to be encouraging!”  Yuuri rolled his eyes.  “Some of us are actually tired from doing the same jump fifty times in one day!”   


The backhanded compliment made him grin despite himself.  Yuuri stretched and stood.  The wall of steam blinded him for a moment.  His muscles ached pleasantly as he climbed out of the onsen and found his towel.

“I’ll think about it,” he said, looking back at Victor.  Victor had rolled his body to the side and his face was squished against his arm, body slack but eyes alert as they tracked Yuuri’s movements.  Water sloshed as he raised his hand above the rock edge in a thumbs up.

 

\----

 

One week later, Yuuri found himself flat on his back, ice flakes clinging all up his side where he’d fallen and slid.  The scrape of skates and a flash of gold announced Victor’s appearance before his face loomed into Yuuri’s view.   


“Over-rotated,” Yuuri said, and then coughed, catching his breath after getting the wind knocked out of him.   


His coach made no comment, but reached out a hand to help him back to his feet.  He brushed the ice from his pants and Victor pressed his finger to his lips in thought.  The familiar gesture now had the power to incite in Yuuri both excitement and apprehension in equal parts.   


“Have you thought any more about your exhibition skate?”  Yuuri’s eyes widened a bit in surprise, and then skittered to the side.  He’d expected a critique of his flubbed jump.

“Um, a little,” he hedged, reaching a rueful hand to rub at the back of his neck.  Since their conversation in the onsen, he’d sat down a couple of times at his computer with the intention of seeking out music options...and ended up just watching old videos of Victor’s exhibition programs for ‘inspiration’.   


Despite his vague answer, Victor just smiled brightly. “You’ll figure it out soon!”  He threw an arm across Yuuri’s shoulders and squeezed for just a moment before retreating from his space.  Yuuri’s eyes remained downcast.

“If it helps, I can tell you how I planned my exhibition programs,” he added, and finally got Yuuri to meet his eyes.  “The best part of an exhibition skate is that it isn’t for the judges,” he began, skating away backwards.  “It’s just between you and the audience.  A performance made up of whatever you want it to be, whatever story you want to tell...”   


Effortlessly, steps and turns became a part of his careless drift across the rink.  A rakish smile, a roguish shuffle, he built up speed and threw his arms out, then clutched them to his chest, initiated an anguished Ina Bauer...Yuuri felt a huge smile overtake his face without his consent, as the routine materializing before him merged with memory...a costume made to resemble a suit, an undone bow tie transposed over Victor’s worn black sweats...when Victor descended dramatically, clutching and dragging at the ice while hydroblading past Yuuri, the music sprang into Yuuri’s mind.   


“You can become  _ The Death of a Bachelor _ ,” Victor said, dropping the routine and taking a lap past Yuuri and around the rink.  “Or perhaps a beautiful, tragic bird...”  He slowed and crisscrossed, face soft, arms extended impossibly long and graceful as they swept downwards only to rise again, over and over, to carry him across the ice.  As he flew past, Yuuri imagined the glittering, weightless fabric feathers of the costume Victor had worn for  _ The Swan _ covering his outstretched arms.

It was incredible to watch, and Yuuri couldn’t help but greedily drink it all in with his eyes.  He felt like he was having an out-of-body experience, watching Victor perform a medley of his own personal favorites.  Because that’s what an exhibition skate was--a favorite.  Not a program designed for the technical points, but for the pure joy of skating it.   


Victor had said that an exhibition program is just between the performer and the audience. Yuuri, an audience of one, couldn’t look away.   


“Whatever you decide,” Victor called, sliding out of a lunge, “Make sure you do it your way!” He raced down the ice and easily erupted into a death drop and spin, an obvious call back to his  _ My Way  _ exhibition performance from three seasons ago.

Often when Yuuri watches Victor skate, he is overcome with guilt.  Guilt that Victor is here, coaching him.  He should be on the ice, where he so clearly belongs, sharing his gift with all the world.  In this moment, selfishly, Yuuri rejected that guilt.  He allowed himself the pleasure of keeping this gift all to himself.

Victor’s eyes were bright, his cheeks pink with exertion, his hair whipping around his face while he eased into and out of an effortless spread eagle.  It was all too rare, Yuuri thought, to see this degree of unfiltered joy on Victor’s face--he knows by now that Victor carefully curates himself, and his expressions are often a facade constructed to belie his true feelings.   


He caught Yuuri’s gaze and smiled.  How different this real, private smile seemed compared to the one he so often showed the world.  For the billionth time Yuuri was struck with awe and gratitude that Victor Nikiforov was really here with him, letting him in.

Victor drew up short in front of him in a spray of ice, and took a bow.  A silly blush crept over his cheeks as he applauded.  Victor winked.  Somehow, after all the time they’ve spent together, that wink was still devastating.

“Now!  Back to this combination…”

Yuuri nodded his head and met Victor’s eyes.  “Right,” he said, determined to both master this jump, and make some headway on his exhibition skate soon.

 

\----

 

Yuuri followed the pull of his body in a pattern ingrained bone-deep, looping figures repeated again and again.  Matched his breathing to the movements, emptied his mind of everything but the chill of the air ghosting against his exposed wrists, the slight scrape and resistance of the blades against the ice.

Several figure rotations later, he tried to channel his thoughts.  He had come here alone to think, to meditate.  An exhibition program.  What story did he want to tell?  The only one that came to mind was the one he’d been trying to express for years--his story, the story finally collected in Yuuri on Ice, in his free skate.  What other story could he tell?   


In the shadows of the early morning, Yuuri envisioned Victor running through his exhibition skate greatest hits.  The emotions of his movements.  The thrill of performing only for the audience...a program designed purely for the joy of skating it.  What kind of skating brought him joy?   


Immediately, his thoughts turned to childhood, the simple fun of copying Victor with Yuuko.  The memories were a comfort, as they always had been.  Even when he was a competitive skater, he’d spend hours huddled around his laptop with Phichit and his hamsters, poring over footage of Victor’s performances for inspiration, motivation, or just for fun.  (Phichit was always willing to indulge in this, as long as Yuuri was up for yet another sing-a-long of  _ The King and the Skater _ .)   


After his meltdown last season, he’d looked to Victor again to rekindle his love of skating.  Even before he’d shown up in the onsen and changed everything, Victor had already impacted his life in ways he’d never be able to measure.

He thought again of Victor’s spontaneous performance...that precious, private smile.  His love for skating was so obvious, but so was his selfless desire to perform for Yuuri.  To help and encourage Yuuri to figure out what he wanted to do with his exhibition program.   


Yuuri knew that their time together was temporary, that eventually Victor would return to the ice.    


He also knew that these months spent with Victor as his coach were the most incredible and challenging of his life.  Inevitable as it was, he didn’t want to give it up.  It felt impossible to imagine a return to the way his life was before, with only the idea of Victor. Yuuri couldn’t be satisfied anymore with just the idea--he wanted the real thing.  He wanted to keep those private smiles, the goofy enthusiasm, the invasions of his personal space, even the ruthless critiques.  He wanted to keep all of Victor, here, by his side…

His skates led him to the center of the ice, and he let the music blossom in his mind, let it draw the movements of longing and loneliness from his body.  The music only he could hear pulled his arms forward, hands reaching, only to withdraw again.  Building desperation fuelled three jumps in succession, barely a pause between them.  Reach, turn, and pivot into a spin, contracting and releasing with the waves of music coursing through him.  Empty of thought and full of feeling, he let it well up and out of him from deep within, let it rush and flow into his skates, his fingertips.  His body begged and bargained with an invisible force, urging it to stay, _ please stay, don’t go.   _   


The music lifted and he leapt into the final spin.  Tears burned at the edge of his vision as the desperation in his rotations bled into hope.   _ Don’t go! _    


He laid himself bare as he could only do on the ice. 

The final pose found him gasping, tears streaming.  He closed his eyes as his chest heaved, coming down from the physical exertion and heady emotional release.  He inhaled deep and tried to regulate his breathing, his heartbeat.  He was so focused he missed the sound of skates.

“Yuuri.”  His eyes flew open at the sound of his name.  The rosy beginnings of a sunrise illuminated Victor in front of him.  Yuuri was so deep in his head, he thought he might be a hallucination.

Victor reached out slowly with one hand, cautious, but Yuuri could only watch as he wiped the wetness from his cheek.  The touch of his hand confirmed that he was real.  Somewhat hysterically, Yuuri thought that of course he was real, his imagination definitely would have conjured Victor with gold epaulettes and a thousand pink sparkles rather than workout clothes.

“Yuuri,” Real Victor repeated, eyes searching his own.

“V-Victor,” Yuuri stammered, “What are you doing here?” 

“Watching you, of course.”  Victor’s face looked as raw as Yuuri felt.  “That performance...” 

Yuuri tried to look down, but the hand still cupping his face redirected him.

“That performance was even more beautiful than when it first brought me to you.”   


With nowhere to hide, Yuuri almost shut his eyes against the intensity of Victor’s gaze.   


“Yuuri, please, tell me--” Victor clutched his other hand to his shoulder, drawing impossibly closer until he filled Yuuri’s vision.  “Tell me you mean it--”  Yuuri could hardly believe what he was asking.  Was his wrecked appearance not evidence enough?

“Yes,” he whispered, then louder, “Yes, I mean it.”  Victor’s eyes grew large and he pulled Yuuri in tight, wrapping his arms around him.  Yuuri returned the hug, clutching right back at Victor.  His hands were full of all that he’d been reaching for just moments ago.   


That skate had emerged from the core of him, and he had no choice but to mean it.  He hadn’t meant to mean it in front of Victor, he’d come to the rink to figure out his exhibition program, but all he could feel now was calm relief.   


“Victor!” he blurted, and pushed back until he was holding Victor by the shoulders at arm’s length.  His shout echoed across the empty ice.  The surprise and confusion on Victor’s face almost made him laugh.  “I have an idea for my exhibition program!” 

“Great!” Victor’s surprise had quickly melted into anticipation. 

“Well…”  Yuuri hesitated.  Then he squashed his doubts-- _ he meets me where I am-- _ “What if...I skated to  _ Stammi Vicino _ ?”

Victor’s eyebrows raised high on his forehead, but before he could protest, Yuuri continued.

“What if you join me?”

\----

**Author's Note:**

> Victor's exhibition skates were inspired by real life ones :3
> 
> The Death of a Bachelor, Stephane Lambiel (so this program is actually to Please Don't Stop the Music, but an inspired person put Death of a Bachelor overtop the video, and it's still pretty amazinggg): http://spacefairytale.tumblr.com/post/155129762579/just-press-play-and-unmute-this-you-will-thank-me 
> 
> The Swan, Yuzuru Hanyu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4PnYgGOM88  
> The Swan, Johnny Weir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf5t-4HFPOo
> 
> My Way, Johnny Weir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09zy3WwWJMI
> 
> You can find me in the blue hell of tumblr @wadingincranberries


End file.
